Judul
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Sparrow – A Chronicle of Defiance An epic account of The Sparrows –
Bettle of Britain gunners who defended Timor as part of Sparrow Force in 1942
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Penulis
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Grant McLachlan
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Penerbit
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Createspace - United States
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Bahasa
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Inggris
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Tahun Cetak
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2012
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Halaman
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822
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ISBN
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9781481037518
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Harga
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-
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Status
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Kosong
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Sparrow is a seldom-heard but
uplifting story of The Sparrows - Battle of Britain gunners who defended Timor
as part of Sparrow Force.
It is the story of Charlie
McLachlan's war: a triumph of stubborn Scottish defiance and laconic Aussie
genius over the relentless violence of man and nature.
From the Rudolph Hess crash-landing
to the atom bomb, from history's last bayonet charge to the war's greatest
aerial bombardment, Charlie McLachlan survives and bears witness to some of the
landmark days of World War II.
At one time or other in a four year
ordeal, he is fired upon by the armies, navies and/or air forces of Germany,
Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States of
America - pretty much everyone but the Russians.
He defies or evades the ravages of
tropical ulcers, tropical heat, alpine cold, gangrene, cholera, malaria,
beriberi, dysentery, mosquitoes, crocodiles, snakes, sharks, scorpions,
sadistic Sikhs, Japanese hellships, falling coconuts, flying shrapnel,
beatings, beheadings, bullets, bombs, bayonets, torpedoes, a crushed leg, a
fractured skull, malnutrition and premature cremation.
He's presumed dead by the British
Army, left for dead by Japanese guards, and declared dead by a Dutch Javanese
doctor.
Yet through it all, Charlie
soldiers on.
Half a world away, his wife Mary,
fashioned from the same mental granite, stoically awaits his return. Not even
an official telegram confirming the near-certainty of Charlie's death, or later
rumours of his torture, can shake her iron faith.
Sparrow Force - the force who
defended Timor in 1942 - was one of Australia's most successful military units.
At the lowest point in the Second World War, soldiers equipped with First World
War weapons destroyed Japan's most successful and elite special force.
Cut off from Australia, a commando
campaign held off a Japanese division for almost a year at the turning point of
the war. Low in medicine and ammunition, they built an improvised radio that
regained contact with their homeland. It was the first good news of the war for
the Allies.
Sparrow Force was unique. They were
the first force to defeat Japan in battle. They were the last to be captured.
Those who escaped to pursue a guerrilla campaign spent more time in combat
against the Japanese than any other Allied unit.
They were set up to fail. Instead,
they endured, defied, and succeeded.
Newsreels were made, victories were
recorded, medals were awarded, Australia's morale elevated. As Winston
Churchill famously said, "They alone did not surrender."
Sparrow - A Chronicle of Defiance
also contains:
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The first complete nominal roll of each unit of
Sparrow Force;
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Unit photographs of Sparrow Force;
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Profiles and photographs of Mitsushima and Kanose
prisoners, guards, and the camps;
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Yokohama, Darwin, and Singapore War Crimes Tribunal trial
profiles of guards;
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Over 100 pages of historiographical analysis of the
Pacific War; and
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A comprehensive bibliography for researchers,
including online content.
Visit the official book website
www.sparrowbook.com where you'll find interactive maps and a gallery of
pictures and video clips. (www.sparrowbook.net)
